Montreal. Malibu. Aspen. Many cars throughout automotive history have been named for places. Such names are often evocative or, at the very least, pleasant. You can picture a ’57 Chevy Bel Air cruising through that SoCal neighborhood back in the day, even if the name was eventually relegated to a fleet special. A Chevy Monte Carlo or Chrysler Cordoba probably never drove through those locales, but the name conveys a sense of luxury and prestige.

Names like Santa Fe, Tucson, Tahoe, Denali, Colorado, Rainier, Durango, Dakota and Yukon make sense: these names are exotic to foreigners, but those vehicles are likely to actually be driven in those places. The choice of the name “Reno” for one of Suzuki’s hatchbacks was baffling though, no offense intended to the Biggest Little City in the World.

My vote for the most ill-suited geographic name would be the Ford Torino. At least with cars like the Chevrolet Corsica and Oldsmobile Firenza, they were European-sized if not European-mannered. But compared to most cars on the road in Turin, the Torino is positively gargantuan. And while the Torino nameplate started as a high-end trim of the Fairlane, it ended up being applied across the entire intermediate Ford range. Cognitive dissonance arises when you consider a 1970s Ford pillared sedan with dog-dish wheels bears the same name as a beautiful Italian city.

What geographic car names make sense? Which don’t?

203 Comments

Perhaps Cortina? Beautiful ski resort, but somehow became the most English of car names. The standard rep car, standard family car, standard boy racer car with Colonel Bogey horn and sun strip on the window. About the least Italian car there has ever been.

I think that name is ok. At least the brand has some real life connection to the place. And they did recognize that fact quite early in their history. It’s not just a name taken completely out of random, like so many other…

Dodge Monaco for a junky 70s big sedan, probably best known today for the number of them wrecked in the Blues Brothers movie. Would not be at home in a densely-populated enclave of millionaires on the French Riviera.

Ford Everest (Aus) is an outdoorsy name, but the mountain isn’t exactly accessible by road no matter how rugged your vehicle may be.

And a Korean-made econobox Pontiac LeMans is unlikely ever to race at that track.

Least appropriate: This one is harder. There are plenty of cars named for pleasant, balmy seaside locations or history-steeped Mediterranean locales that end up being nothing more than bland middle-America sedans, and you could claim any of those (Torino perhaps being the exemplar).

But instead, I nominate the Ferrari America/Superamerica series. It doesn’t get more Italian than Ferrari, so to name a whole line after the continent that builds the exact opposite type of car? Puzzling.

The Suburban one is interesting to me. My (American) father in law has a Suburban. My wife and I used it to collect my (Scottish) parents from the airport and my mum asked what it was. I said “It’s a Chevrolet Suburban”, and she burst out laughing.

From a British point of view, Suburban is about the last name you would attach to that car, and is probably a name you just wouldn’t attach to a car.

Superamerica isn’t so puzzling since the series was specifically aimed at Americans. Ferrari knew Americans liked big engines, and they were the richest and biggest buyers of his cars, so he dedicated a whole series to his best customers. You Americans are super!

The short-lived Plymouth Plaza was equally bad when it was named, but accidentally turned appropriate after Plymouth abandoned the name. A plaza sounded like an elegant town square in some exclusive tropical locale, but by 1960 it meant a shabby strip mall. Exactly the right sort of place for a strippo car.

210delray

Posted September 2, 2015 at 7:11 PM

I thought the Plaza name came from the NYC hotel — still quite ritzy, but obviously not what the Plymouth represented.

Somehow the “Starsky and Hutch” livery on that four door sedan (sorry, saloon since it’s across the pond) version of the Gran Torino. At least the model year of that car appears correct or at least close (74-76), although it’s missing some trim between the taillights.

Arosa is part of two towns in Galicia, you might find it under the official galician name, Arousa. But it’s that one. It’s in Spain 🙂 But it’s also Portuguese and Swiss:https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arosa

The only of the latest SEATs without a name of a place in Spain was the Exeo.

I’ve driven a Chevy Tahoe to Lake Tahoe and could conceivably drive a GMC Yukon to the Yukon Territory. Although it should probably be a Yukon XL to be more correct. Or as of yesterday I could keep going and try to climb a mountain if I had the Denali version.

Actually, Aspen was fairly crawling with the Aspen SUV, and just about any other SUV – the well off never lost their affection for the SUV during the recession – they just decided that Hummers were a bit too gauche and dialed it back a little.

Hard for me to say since even the worst offender is better than alphabet soup or a sterile raise zero eyebrow/translate positively in all languages/focus group friendly name like Fusion(the Torino’s class descendant).

I think the worst offender would actually be Bel Air, not in the golden years of 57 and prior, but nearly all years since. Chevrolet constantly demoted it’s status to the point of stripper fleet model in the nameplate’s twilight years, I can’t think of a less desirable car to be seen in cruising through Bel Air.

“Hard for me to say since even the worst offender is better than alphabet soup or a sterile raise zero eyebrow/translate positively in all languages/focus group friendly name like Fusion(the Torino’s class descendant). ”

That is how the natives of Versailles, Kentucky pronounce it as well. I’m fairly certain that all of the towns named Paris in U.S. are pronounced as it is spelled (Pair-us), and not in the French fashion. Just as I’m sure that towns in the U.S. named Cairo are pronounced like the corn syrup (Ka-ro) and not like the city in Egypt. I could go on but will not.

A couple driving through Texas had been embarrassed frequently when they mispronounced names of towns and people snickered. So, when they arrived in Mexia they expected an odd pronunciation and decided to ask first when they stopped to get something to drink.

Couple: “Can you please tell us where we are and say it slowly and distinctly so we can understand?”

Clerk (looking at them like they must have just landed from Mars): “Of course. Glad to help. ‘Dairy Queen'”!

cfclark

Posted September 3, 2015 at 8:37 AM

In Wisconsin, there are a Berlin and a New Berlin, both pronounced BER-lin. Supposedly this changed from the correct pronunciation during either WWI or WWII, so as to disassociate the towns from the then-enemy Germans.

We have Versailles and the larger and better known North Versailles here near Pittsburgh, both are pronounced phonetically by everyone in these parts (Ver-sails). I still refer to the Lincoln that way, and the Pontiac Parisienne is the Paris-een.

Surprised it has not been mentioned yet, but the Buick Riviera seems very unlikely to be seen on the French Riviera, and almost as unlikely in Riviera Maya. …or perhaps the Buick Lucerne.

Kalapanablack

Posted September 2, 2015 at 8:06 PM

The Pittsburgh area also has Mount Lebanon, which is pronounced “Mont Lebnen.” Oddly, there’s a Lebanon over on this (eastern) end of the state which is mispronounced exactly the same.

We have Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri just on the other side of the I-270 bridge. It’s pronounced the same. Like Ferguson, St. Ann and other North St. Louis County burgs, it exists primarily to write traffic tickets.

I see the Mercury Colony Park as going both ways. While they probably chose the name to evoke an image of an upscale subdivision, the only real life Colony Park I know of is a slightly down at the heel apartment building on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway in SW Portland.

Subaru is missing a bet by failing to thank Spokane for being the Subariest city in America.

Admittedly Spokane is a clattery name, but then Subarus are clattery cars. If they wanted a nicer-sounding name, they could pick the fanciest parts of town, where Subs are especially dense. The Subaru Audubon or the Subaru Manito.

How about a luxury model to keep Subie owners looking to move up to an Audi or AWD Lexus from jumping ship? I’m thinking “Montpelier by Subaru”. It’s a distinguished, upscale sounding name, yet it’s also the name of a nice little town where it is simply impossible to step outside without seeing an FHI product.

I snorted coffee thru my nose at the thought of Montpelier – because I automatically think of Montpelier, VA (on US33, twenty five miles northwest of Richmond) where I lived for the past fifteen years. Basically a wide spot on the road with no traffic lights which exists because there was an inn and stagecoach transfer station back in the 1850’s.

The kind of town that when you drive thru you figure it was founded because somebody’s covered wagon broke a wheel in that area, and by the time they fixed the wheel the oxen pulling the wagon died. So they set up home there.

So I was born a Taurus and I was in my Mondeo, driving through the Sierras on my way to Cortina…Good thing I had an Escort and was able to Focus like a Laser on the task at hand…by the way, have you seen my Crown, Victoria? (Okay, I know they’re not place names, but some things are too punderful to ignore!)

That’s because it was named after a tony vacation beach town on Long Island, New York, USA, which, itself was named after that port in England. “Southampton” was a descriptive term used by Imperial for any pillarless hardtop, which evoked a certain feeling of luxury over the common sedan with its framed windows.

I can imagine an AMC Matador Barcelona 2dr coupe being driven quickly thru the streets of Barcelona, Spain, driven by a dashing and handsome bullfighter on the way to see his lovely senorita all dressed in white lace.

Spain has a very powerful, rich history, which also is mingled in with our own history. It’s exotic foreign but domestic and familiar at the same time. Had things gone a little differently years ago we could be speaking in Spanish or even French.

“Ranier, Tucson, Santa Fe,Yukon”…I have to disagree on all of those…not a single one of those vehicles is capable of much more than moderate offroading these days. The Yukon and Tahoe once WERE decent offroaders, properly prepped. Anymore, theyre low riding mall crawlers.

Im sidestepping the geographical element of this, but the current ‘Renegade’ is the most blatant case of overselling a vehicle with a much too aggressive name out there. That car may be the most capable version of a Scion xB or Kia Soul you can buy, but considering the nature of the CJs that once wore that name it does NOT fill those shoes. I owned a CJ-7 Renegade…my first vehicle. Even with the factory 304 V8 it was pretty deserving but by the time I got hold of it, someone had swapped in an AMC 360. Add 13 years of wear and tear, dual cherry bombs and a crazy 17 y/o driver….THATS a ‘Renegade’. Jeep had shown a 2 door JK Wrangler with the 345 Hemi and Rubicon running gear as a concept. Anything less than that doesn’t deserve the name.

I’m actually a Chevy El Camino buff, but in some ways it does evoke the stretch of El Camino Real, “The King’s Highway” which wends interminably from Santa Clara to South San Francisco in California, lined with miles of strip malls, auto dealers, fast food and motels.

Actually, the name comes from the Fleetwood coachworks of Fleetwood, PA, which is about 25 miles from here. I spend a good amount of time there as several of my co-workers live there. The old coachworks factory is still standing, but vacated. It is a small town with not much industry, a downtown stuck in the mid 1970s, lots of Amish and quite a few Allentown and Philadelphia commuters.

There are limitless examples of names and adjectives in American culture that seemingly apply to foreign cultures…but…in reality apply to the AMERICAN VERSION of those cultures. For instance, Chinese food in america is anything but chinese. It is a style of cuisine invented in america by chinese immigrants to america. Chinese people who have never traveled outside china have never tasted the food we americans call “chinese food”. They have heard of it before and the first chance they get, they go and try it.

The Ford Torino is a car in the style of the italian american. It has nothing to do with Italy just as american chinese food has nothing to do with China. There was a time when “mediteranean” style was all the rage. People were buying mediteranean furniture, mediteranean food, mediteranean art, and even mediteranean clothing. None of it was true mediteranean stuff. It was all made to look like the stuff a successful mediteranean immigrant to the USA would fill his house and garage and wardrobe with…and did.

It means when there is a group of people, or a dating couple, at a restaurant, everyone pays their own bill separately.

then there is the American expression “double Dutch” which means to jump rope using two ropes simultaneously.

then there is the expression “in Dutch”…which means to be in big big trouble.

Where do these expressions come from? I have no idea.

One might surmise from these American expressions that Dutch people are known for doing things agin the law, are stingy with money, and are really good at tricky tasks like jumping rope.

but that is purely a simple amateurish explanation.

P.S. my mom and my dad and all my grandparents and aunts and uncles were ALL “Dutch uncles” and the only languages they knew besides American English were German, Danish, Swedish, and a wee-bit-O-Scott.

All these “Dutch expressions” can be traced back to the Anglo-Dutch wars in the 17th century.

Dutch comfort, treat, uncle, courage, etc.etc.

They hated us.

john

Posted September 3, 2015 at 2:18 AM

Aha!

I know nought of this war

I will endeavor to

Thanks

Interesting that the expressions carried over to America. I would be interested to know if these expressions are still in use in England!

Do you know if they are?

Johannes Dutch

Posted September 3, 2015 at 2:31 AM

More about two Dutch brothers (not uncles) tomorrow, here on CC.

Syke

Posted September 3, 2015 at 3:49 AM

Of course, if you were English, you don’t know much about these wars. Because they weren’t England’s finest moments. Little matters of: The English Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, and the (not quite yet) mighty English navy being beaten by the Dutch.

BTW, Johannes, I must say our discussions that go astray from the cars we are supposed to discuss are my favorite thing on this website.

I have not traveled the world. In college I was the only American citizen in my group of friends even though I went to college in the middle of America. I used to tell my college buddies from round the world that they were my escape from my home town and that they saved me the expense of actually traveling. All I had to do was listen to their stories and absorb them and in exchange I taught them about America in a detailed way that they could not get from any other source. I seemed to have a knack for that and I became popular with the guys(and gals) from the other side of the planet because of that knack. I still remember taking my antique British Literature books(which came from my great grandmother who was a school teacher) to college and sharing them with students from Asia and Africa and South America to show them how much the English language had changed in the last one thousand years.

They LOVED IT!

The guys from the middle east were absolutely riveted by my discussion with them about: Mormons, Mennonites, and Amish.

Some of those three came from the Netherlands if I’m not mistaken.

The guys from India were astonished to learn that there were lots and lots of white English speaking people who hated the English more than they did. LOL! Namely, the Irish, the Scottish, and Americans.

I guess I knew how to put a spin on my knowledge of America and American history that amused or attracted my fellow students from foreign lands.

ah yes…
Pennsylvania Dutch and Scotch Irish
Two of the most famous ethnicities in America

I thought nothing of them until I was a college buddy with an irishman and a scotsman and a welshman, among others.

That’s when we nailed down the silly American terminology

What we came up with is that a Scotch Irish person in colonial America is nothing more than a northern irish person of non-catholic persuasion that does not have any lineage in common with the non-english speaking irish people of the island.

Turns out the sneaky English tried to exterminate the irish by sending more rapidly breeding Scots into ireland. They bred fast for only a little while and what resulted was northern ireland. Then the two populations stabilized and two separate nations resulted.

John makes some excellent points. Amercian cars wearing European names really are Italian-American, Spanish-American, etc. and by far they are not European.

And, while I was quite young, I do recall that in the late ’60s and early ’70s that “Mediterranean” was indeed a popular style – Mediterranean-Amercian to be more precise!

The Torino name was initially used at a relative high point on Ford’s mid-sizer as a top trim designation – and it sold well in the upper middle of price points. It was the perfect second car for an upscale suburban household – decorated Mediterranean, of course!

The Ford Torino was a common and innocuous part of the American background in the early-mid ’70s. I sort of understand some of the dislike these poor cars get – after 1973 they were also rans to GM’s Colonnade cars in terms of style, performance and handling, but they weren’t quite as bad as some folks make them out to be – with new names and little tune up in style and quality control the platform became a bestseller during ’77-’79.

The Chevy Orlando – a compact family crossover – would be right at home in the theme-park parking lots of its namesake city but you can’t buy or even rent one there. If you want to drive an Orlando in Orlando you have to bring it down from Canada.

I don’t know if Toyota sells that model in Scotland or not. I would guess not as it would be considered too big and too thirsty for most people there. I do know that the Highlander is only called that in North America, in other markets, Australia for example, it is the Toyota Kluger.

Don’t think a Mercury could make it to a Comet. No Chevy will make it to Vega. Or a Nova for that matter. May not even make it around the block. How about a Plymouth catching a Satellite? Will a Pontiac burn up heading for the Sunfire? Of course, the leader of them all would be the Pontiac Star Chief. Could my Jetta reach the jet stream? Maybe if it ran into a tornado that was was big enough. OK I’ll stop now.